Multi-site building management system

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for controlling a building. An illustrative method includes receiving sensor data from one or more sensors of the building, using the received sensor data to control one or more building management components to control one or more environmental conditions within the building, normalizing the sensor data and storing the normalized sensor data, comparing the normalized sensor data with normalized sensor data from one or more other buildings to identify one or more anomalies associated the building, and providing a recommended action to improve at least one of the one or more identified anomalies of the building.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure generally relates to building management systems, andmore particularly to systems and methods for monitoring and/ormanipulating conditions in buildings across multiple building sites toidentify and initiate efficiency improvements.

BACKGROUND

Buildings in different locations have different needs. For example,buildings in colder climates may need to run furnaces more often, whilebuildings in warmer climates may need to run air-conditioners moreoften. Not all differences in efficiency between buildings can beattributed to environmental factors such as indoor and outdoortemperature. For example, some buildings may have less efficientinfrastructure (e.g., not enough insulation, inefficient equipment,etc.) and/or may be operated in a less efficient manner. What would bedesirable are methods and systems to help isolate differences inbuilding efficiencies across multiple building sites.

SUMMARY

This disclosure generally relates to building management systems, andmore particularly to systems and methods for monitoring and/ormanipulating conditions in buildings across multiple building sites toidentify and initiate efficiency improvements. In one example, a methodfor controlling a building may include receiving sensor data from one ormore sensors of a building, and using the received sensor data tocontrol one or more building management components of the building tocontrol one or more environmental conditions within the building. Thesensor data may be normalized and stored. The normalized sensor data maybe compared with normalized sensor data from one or more other buildingsto identify anomalies associated with the building. Recommended actionsmay be provided to help improve one or more of the identified anomaliesof the building. In some cases, the sensor data may be normalized totake into account one or more outdoor conditions, one or morecharacteristics of the building, and/or one or more characteristics ofthe building management components.

In some cases, the method may further include receiving and storing oneor more operating parameters of one or more building managementcomponents of the building and comparing the normalized sensor dataalong with one or more of the received operating parameters withnormalized sensor data and one or more operating parameters from onemore other buildings to identify one or more anomalies associated thebuilding. In some cases, the one or more building management componentsof the building may be normalized.

In some cases, the sensor data received from the one or more sensors ofthe building and/or the one or more operating parameters may betimestamped.

In some cases, the method may further include determining when the oneor more of the anomalies are caused by an activity of one or moreoccupants of the building. In some cases, the anomalies that aredetermined to be caused by the activity of one or more occupants of thebuilding may be automatically ignored.

In some cases, the method may further identify an occupant activityevent when an anomaly is determined to be caused by the activity of oneor more occupants of the building and the occupant activity event mayidentify one or more conditions in the building. In some cases anidentified anomaly may be automatically ignored when one or moreconditions in the building match one or more conditions associated withan identified occupant activity event.

In some cases, a local or remote building controller of the building mayuse the received sensor data to control the one or more buildingmanagement components of the building to control the one or moreenvironmental conditions within the building.

In some cases, a cloud server remote from the building may compare thenormalized sensor data with normalized sensor data from one more otherbuildings to identify one or more anomalies associated the building. Thecloud server may notify the local building controller of the one or moreidentified anomalies associated the building.

In some cases, one or more of the anomalies may include a performanceanomaly of one or more building management components of the building.

In another example, a method for controlling a building may includereceiving sensor data from one or more sensors of the building, usingthe received sensor data to control one or more building managementcomponents of the building to control one or more environmentalconditions within the building, receiving one or more operatingparameters of one or more building management components of thebuilding, comparing the sensor data and one or more of the operatingparameters against a database of sensor data and one or more ofoperating parameters collected from one more other buildings to identifyone or more anomalies associated with the building, determining when oneor more of the anomalies are caused by an activity of one or moreoccupants of the building, and providing a recommended action to improveone or more of the identified anomalies of the building.

In some cases, the method may further include identifying an occupantactivity event when an anomaly is determined to be caused by theactivity of one or more occupants of the building. The occupant activityevent may identify one or more conditions in the building. The anomalyassociated with the building may be automatically when one or moreconditions in the building match one or more conditions associated withan identified occupant activity event. In some cases, the activity ofone or more occupants of the building may include opening a door of thebuilding.

In another example, a system for controlling a building may include e alocal building controller and a cloud server. The local buildingcontroller may be configured to receive sensor data from one or moresensors of the building and use the received sensor data to control oneor more building management components of the building to control one ormore environmental conditions within the building. The cloud server maybe configured to receive the sensor data from the local buildingcontroller, normalize the sensor data, compare the normalized sensordata with normalized sensor data from one more other buildings toidentify one or more anomalies associated the building, and provide arecommended action to improve one or more of the identified anomalies ofthe building.

In some cases, the cloud server may be configured to receive one or moreoperating parameters of one or more building management components ofthe building from the local building controller, and to compare thenormalized sensor data along with one or more of the received operatingparameters with normalized sensor data and one or more operatingparameters from one more other buildings to identify the one or moreanomalies associated the building.

The preceding summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of someof the features of the present disclosure and is not intended to be afull description. A full appreciation of the disclosure can be gained bytaking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as awhole.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure may be more completely understood in consideration of thefollowing detailed description of various embodiments in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an illustrative building or otherstructure that includes a building management system (BMS) that controlsclient devices servicing the building;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the illustrative BMS of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative multi-site BMS;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative BMS for controlling abuilding; and

FIG. 5 is an illustrative flow chart of an illustrative method ofcontrolling a building.

While the disclosure is amenable to various modifications andalternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of examplein the drawings and will be described in detail. It should beunderstood, however, that the intention is not to limit aspects of thedisclosure to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, theintention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternativesfalling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description should be read with reference to thedrawings in which similar elements in different drawings are numberedthe same. The detailed description and the drawings, which are notnecessarily to scale, depict illustrative embodiments and are notintended to limit the scope of the disclosure. The illustrativeembodiments depicted are intended only as exemplary. Selected featuresof any illustrative embodiment may be incorporated into an additionalembodiment unless clearly stated to the contrary.

A company, business, etc. may operate or be responsible for two or morebuildings or facilities in different geographical locations. In someinstances, a company may operate hundreds of facilities in variouslocations (e.g. Walmart). A manager may be tasked with ensuring multiplesites are functioning properly and efficiently. For example, the managermay be tasked with ensuring lighting systems, climate control systems,fire and smoke detection systems, etc. are all functioning and providinga comfortable environment in an efficient manner. The manager maycollaborate with and/or rely on the experiences of local buildingmanagers of each site to try to determine whether operationalinefficiencies exist at any particular site. However, it is difficult toidentify those sites that are operating less efficiently relative to theother sites because of the often very different outdoor conditions ateach geographic site. That is, is can be difficult to make anapples-to-apples comparison between the operating efficiency of thevarious buildings located at multiple geographic locations. What wouldbe desirable is to leverage data available from each of multiple sitesto help identify, recommend and/or realize inefficiencies in individualbuildings even when the buildings are operating at different geographiclocations and under very different outdoor conditions.

In some cases, the building sites may be in different geographicallocations having different climates, although this is not required. Insome cases, the locations may be in a similar geographical location butspaced from one another (e.g., across town) While buildings in differentenvironments may have different needs (e.g., more/less heating and/orcooling), not all differences in efficiency between buildings can beattributed to the environment. For example, some buildings may have lessefficient infrastructure (e.g. not enough insulation, inefficientequipment, etc.) and/or may be operated in a less efficient manner. Thedisclosure generally relates to methods and systems for improving theoperational efficiency of one or more buildings using data from aplurality of buildings across a portfolio of buildings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an illustrative building or structure 10that includes an illustrative building management system (BMS) 12 forcontrolling one or more client devices servicing the building orstructure 10. The BMS 12, as described herein according to the variousillustrative embodiments, may be used to control the one or more clientdevices in order to control certain environmental conditions (e.g.,temperature, ventilation, humidity, lighting, etc.). Such a BMS 12 maybe implemented in, for example, office buildings, factories,manufacturing facilities, distribution facilities, retail buildings,hospitals, health clubs, movie theaters, restaurants, and evenresidential homes.

The illustrative BMS 12 shown in FIG. 1 includes one or more heating,ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems 20, one or moresecurity systems 30, one or more lighting systems 40, one or more firesystems 50, and one or more access control systems 60. These are just afew examples of systems that may be included or controlled by the BMS12. In some cases, the BMS 12 may include more or fewer systemsdepending on the industry. For example, some buildings may includerefrigeration systems or coolers. In some cases, each system may includea client device configured to provide one or more control signals forcontrolling one or more building control components and/or devices ofthe BMS 12.

For instance, in some cases, the HVAC system 20 may include an HVACcontrol device 22 used to communicate with and control one or more HVACdevices 24 a, 24 b, and 24 c (collectively, 24) for servicing the HVACneeds of the building or structure 10. While the HVAC system 20 isillustrated as including three devices, it should be understood that thestructure may include fewer than three or more than three devices 24, asdesired. Some illustrative devices may include, but are not limited to afurnace, a heat pump, an electric heat pump, a geothermal heat pump, anelectric heating unit, an air conditioning unit, a roof top unit, ahumidifier, a dehumidifier, an air exchanger, an air cleaner, a damper,a valve, blowers, fans, motors, and/or the like. The HVAC system 20 mayfurther include a system of ductwork and air vents (not explicitlyshown). The HVAC system 20 may further include one or more sensors ordevices 26 configured to measure parameters of the environment to becontrolled. The HVAC system 20 may include more than one sensor ordevice of each type, as needed to control the system. It is contemplatedthat large buildings, such as, but not limited to an office building,may include a plurality of different sensors in each room or withincertain types of rooms. The one or more sensors or devices 26 mayinclude, but are not limited to, temperatures sensors, humidity sensors,carbon dioxide sensors, pressure sensors, occupancy sensors, proximitysensors, etc. Each of the sensor/devices 26 may be operatively connectedto the control device 22 via a corresponding communications port (notexplicitly shown). It is contemplated that the communications port maybe wired and/or wireless. When the communications port is wireless, thecommunications port may include a wireless transceiver, and the controldevice 22 may include a compatible wireless transceiver. It iscontemplated that the wireless transceivers may communicate using astandard and/or a proprietary communication protocol. Suitable standardwireless protocols may include, for example, cellular communication,ZigBee, Bluetooth, WiFi, IrDA, dedicated short range communication(DSRC), EnOcean, or any other suitable wireless protocols, as desired.

In some cases, the security system 30 may include a security controldevice 32 used to communicate with and control one or more securityunits 34 for monitoring the building or structure 10. The securitysystem 30 may further include a number of sensors/devices 36 a, 36 b, 36c, 36 d (collectively, 36). The sensor/devices 36 may be configured todetect threats within and/or around the building 10. In some cases, someof the sensor/devices 36 may be constructed to detect different threats.For example, some of the sensor/devices 36 may be limit switches locatedon doors and windows of the building 10, which are activated by entry ofan intruder into the building 10 through the doors and windows. Othersuitable security sensor/devices 36 26 may include fire, smoke, water,carbon monoxide, and/or natural gas detectors, to name a few. Stillother suitable security system sensor/devices 36 may include motionsensors that detect motion of intruders in the building 10, noisesensors or microphones that detect the sound of breaking glass, securitycard pass systems, or electronic locks, etc. It is contemplated that themotion sensor may be a passive infrared (PIR) motion sensor, a microwavemotion sensor, an ultrasonic motion sensor, a tomographic motion sensor,a video camera having motion detection software, a vibrational motionsensor, etc. In some cases, one or more of the sensor/devices 36 mayinclude a video camera. In some cases, the sensor/devices 36 may includea horn or alarm, a damper actuator controller (e.g., that closes adamper during a fire event), a light controller for automaticallyturning on/off lights to simulate occupancy, and/or any other suitabledevice/sensor. These are just examples.

In some cases, the lighting system 40 may include a lighting controldevice 42 used to communicate with and control one or more light banks44 having lighting units L1-L10 for servicing the building or structure10. In some embodiments, one or more of the lighting units L1-L10 may beconfigured to provide visual illumination (e.g., in the visiblespectrum) and one or more of the light units L1-L10 may be configured toprovide ultraviolet (UV) light to provide irradiation. The lightingsystem 40 may include emergency lights, outlets, lighting, exteriorlights, drapes, and general load switching, some of which are subject to“dimming” control which varies the amount of power delivered to thevarious building control devices.

In some cases, the fire system 50 may include a fire control device 52used to communicate with and control one or more fire banks 54 havingfire units F1-F6 for monitoring and servicing the building or structure10. The fire system 50 may include smoke/heat sensors, a sprinklersystem, warning lights, and so forth. In some cases, the access controlsystem 60 may include an access control device 62 used to communicatewith and control one or more access control units 64 for allowing accessin, out, and/or around the building or structure 10. The access controlsystem 60 may include doors, door locks, windows, window locks,turnstiles, parking gates, elevators, or other physical barriers, wheregranting access can be electronically controlled. In some embodiments,the access control system 60 may include one or more sensors 66 (e.g.,RFID, etc.) configured to allow access to the building or certain partsof the building 10.

In a simplified example, the BMS 12 may be used to control a single HVACsystem 20, a single security system 30, a single lighting system 40, asingle fire system 50, and/or a single access control system 60. Inother embodiments, the BMS 12 may be used to communicate with andcontrol multiple discrete building control devices 22, 32, 42, 52, and62 of multiple systems 20, 30, 40, 50, 60. The devices, units, andcontrollers of the systems 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 may be located indifferent zones and rooms, such as a common space area (a lobby, a breakroom, etc.), in a dedicated space (e.g., offices, work rooms, etc.) oroutside of the building 10. In some cases, the systems 20, 30, 40, 50,60 may be powered by line voltage, and may be powered by the same ordifferent electrical circuit. It is contemplated that the BMS 12 may beused to control other suitable building control components that may beused to service the building or structure 10.

According to various embodiments, the BMS 12 may include a host device70 that may be configured to communicate with the discrete systems 20,30, 40, 50, 60 of the BMS 12. In some cases, the host device 70 may beconfigured with an application program that assigns devices of thediscrete systems to a particular device (entity) class (e.g., commonspace device, dedicated space device, outdoor lighting, unitarycontroller, and so on). In some cases, there may be multiple hosts. Forinstance, in some examples, the host device 70 may be one or many of thecontrol devices 22, 32, 42, 52, 62. In some cases, the host device 70may be a hub located external to the building 10 at an external orremote server also referred to as “the cloud.”

In some cases, the building control devices 22, 32, 42, 52, 62 may beconfigured to transmit a command signal to its corresponding buildingcontrol component(s) for activating or deactivating the building controlcomponent(s) in a desired manner. In some cases, the building controldevices 22, 32, 42, 52, 62 may be configured to receive a classificationof the building control component and may transmit a correspondingcommand signal(s) to their respective building control component inconsideration of the classification of the building control component.

In some instances, the building control devices 22, 32, 62 may beconfigured to receive signals from one or more sensors 26, 36, 66located throughout the building or structure 10. In some cases, thebuilding control devices 42 and 52 may be configured to receive signalsfrom one or more sensors operatively and/or communicatively coupled withthe lighting units L1-L10 and the fire units F1-F6 located throughoutthe building or structure 10, respectively. In some cases, the one ormore sensors may be integrated with and form a part of one or more oftheir respective building control devices 22, 32, 42, 52, 62. In othercases, one or more sensors may be provided as separate components fromthe corresponding building control device. In still other instances,some sensors may be separate components of their corresponding buildingcontrol devices while others may be integrated with their correspondingbuilding control device. These are just some examples. The buildingcontrol devices 22, 32, 42, 52, 62 and the host device 70 may beconfigured to use signal(s) received from the one or more sensors tooperate or coordinate operation of the various BMS systems 20, 30, 40,50, 60 located throughout the building or structure 10.

The one or more sensors 26, 36, 66, L1-L10, and F1-F6 may be any one ofa temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, an occupancy sensor, a pressuresensor, a flow sensor, a light sensor, a video camera, a current sensor,a smoke sensor and/or any other suitable sensor. In one example, atleast one of the sensors 26, 36, 66, or other sensors, may be anoccupancy sensor. The building control devices 22, 32, 42, 62 and/or thehost device 70 may receive a signal from the occupancy sensor indicativeof occupancy within a room or zone of the building or structure 10. Inresponse, the building control devices 22, 32, 42, and/or 62 may send acommand to activate one or more building control component(s) located inor servicing the room or zone where occupancy is sensed.

Likewise, in some cases, at least one of the sensors 26 may be atemperature sensor configured to send a signal indicative of the currenttemperature in a room or zone of the building or structure 10. Thebuilding control device 22 may receive the signal indicative of thecurrent temperature from a temperature sensor 26. In response, thebuilding control device 22 may send a command to an HVAC device 24 toactivate and/or deactivate the HVAC device 24 that is in or is servicingthat room or zone to regulate the temperature in accordance with adesired temperature set point.

In yet another example, one or more of the sensors may be a currentsensor. The current sensor may be coupled to the one or more buildingcontrol components and/or an electrical circuit providing electricalpower to one or more building control components. The current sensorsmay be configured to send a signal to a corresponding building controldevice, which indicates an increase or decrease in electrical currentassociated with the operation of the building control component. Thissignal may be used to provide confirmation that a command transmitted bya building control device has been successfully received and acted uponby the building control component(s). These are just a few examples ofthe configuration of the BMS 12 and the communication that can takeplace between the sensors and the control devices.

In some cases, data received from the BMS 12 may be analyzed and used todynamically (e.g., automatically) trigger or provide recommendations forservice requests, work orders, changes operating parameters (e.g., setpoints, schedules, etc.) for the various devices 24, 34, 64, L1-L10,F1-F6 and/or sensors 26, 36, 66 in the BMS 12. It is contemplated thatdata may be received from the control devices 22, 32, 42, 62, devices24, 34, 64, L1-L10, F1-F6, and/or sensors 26, 36, 66, as desired. Insome cases, the data received from the BMS 12 may be combined with videodata from image capturing devices. It is contemplated that the videodata may be obtained from certain sensors 26, 36, 66 that are imagecapturing devices associated with discrete systems 20, 30, 60 of the BMS12 or may be provided as separate image capturing devices such as video(or still-image) capturing cameras 80 a, 80 b (collectively 80), asdesired. While the illustrative building 10 is shown as including twocameras 80, it is contemplated that the building may include fewer thantwo or more than two cameras, as desired. It is further contemplatedthat the cameras (either discrete cameras 80 or cameras associated witha discrete system 20, 30, 60) may be considered to be “smart” cameras(which may be an internet of things (IoT) device) which are capable ofindependently processing the image stream or “non-smart” cameras whichare used as sensors to collect video information which is analyzed by anindependent video analytics engine. Some illustrative “non-smart”cameras may include, but are not limited to, drones or thermovisioncameras.

It is contemplated that data from the BMS 12 and/or the cameras 26, 36,66, 80 may be systematically analyzing and compared to data from the BMSand/or cameras of other buildings to identify in efficient resource usethat is not directly attributable to outside environmental differences.In some cases the data from the BMS 12 may be compared with data acrossa portfolio of buildings and may use comparable building types for thecomparison. For example, drug store data may be compared with data fromother drug stores, hotel data may be compared with data from otherhotels, restaurant data may be compared with data from otherrestaurants, etc. In some cases, the buildings in the building portfoliomay be commonly owned, but this is not required. In some cases, aservice provider (e.g. Honeywell) may be responsible for monitoring aportfolio of buildings that are owned by multiple franchises (Walmart,CVS, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 2, which is a schematic block diagram of theillustrative BMS 12 of FIG. 1, where the host device 70 can function asa server, a client, a local controller, or any other suitable device. Inthe example shown, the host device 70 can perform various communicationand data transfer functions as described herein and can execute one ormore application functions. The host device 70 can be any of a varietyof computing devices, such as a server computer, a desktop computer, ahandheld computer, a tablet computer, mobile telephone or other mobiledevice, and the like. The components of the host device 70 may include,but are not limited to, a controller 104, a system memory 106, and a bus108 that couples various system components including the system memory106 to the controller 104.

The controller 104 may include one or more controllers or processorsthat execute instructions stored in the system memory 106. Thecontroller 104 may include a programmable microprocessor. Such aprogrammable microprocessor may allow a user to modify the control logicof the host device 70 even after it is installed in the field (e.g.,firmware update, application update). When provided, the bus 108 mayrepresent one or more of any of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation,such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus.

The system memory 106 of the host device 70 can include computer systemreadable media in the form of volatile memory, such as random accessmemory (RAM) 112 and/or cache memory 114. The host device 70 may furtherinclude other removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computersystem storage media. By way of example only, the storage system 116 canbe provided for reading from and writing to a non-removable,non-volatile magnetic media (not shown and typically called a “harddrive”). Although not shown, a magnetic disk drive for reading from andwriting to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppydisk”), and an optical disk drive for reading from or writing to aremovable, non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or otheroptical media can be provided. In such instances, each can be connectedto the bus 108 by one or more data media interfaces.

The building system controllers 102 and/or IoT devices 80 may beconnected to the host device 70 through any type of connection such as anetwork (e.g., network 150), including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider). In various embodiments, the host device 70 may communicatewith one or more devices from the various systems of the building systemcontrollers 102 over the network 150. Such communication can occur viaInput/Output (I/O) interface(s) 124. In some cases, the controller 104of the host device 70 may be operatively coupled to I/O interface(s) 124via the bus 108, and may use the I/O interface 124 to communicate withdevices via the building system controllers 102.

In some cases, the control devices 22, 32, 42, 52, 62 and/or the hostdevice 70 may be programmed to communicate over the network 150 with anexternal web service hosted by one or more external web servers 152. Thecontrol devices 22, 32, 42, 52, 62 and/or the host device 70 may beconfigured to upload selected data via the network 150 to the externalweb service 152 where it may be collected, stored, and/or analyzed onthe external web server 152. Additionally, the control devices 22, 32,42, 52, 62 and/or the host device 70 may be configured to receive and/ordownload selected data, settings, and/or services sometimes includingsoftware updates from the external web service over the network 150. Thedata, settings and/or services may be received automatically from theweb service, downloaded periodically in accordance with a controlalgorithm, and/or downloaded in response to a user request.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a plurality of buildings 10 a, 10 b, 10c, 10 n (collectively, 10) each having one or more HVAC control devices22 a-n, one or more security system control devices 32 a-n, one or morelighting system control devices 42 a-n, one or more fire system controldevices 52 a-n, and/or one or more access control system control devices62 a-n in communication with an external web server 152, such as theexternal web server 152 described herein. It is contemplated thatdevices from any number of buildings 10 may be providing information tothe external server 152. In some cases, hundreds, thousands, tens ofthousands, or more buildings may be in communication with the externalweb server(s) 152. The buildings 10 a-n may each have one or more of: anHVAC system 20 a-n, a security system 30 a-n, a light system 40 a-n, afire system 50 a-n, and/or an access control system 60 a-n, etc. TheHVAC system 20 a-n, security system 30 a-n, light system 40 a-n, firesystem 50 a-n, and/or access control system 60 a-n may be incommunication with the one another and/or other controller (e.g. hostdevice 70) configured to operate the systems and devices within therespective building 10 a-n. The control devices 22 a-n, 32 a-n, 42 a-n,52 a-n, 62 a-n from each building may relay performance data, operatingparameters, alarm conditions, gas and/or electricity usage, etc. to theexternal server 152. In some cases, the data may be relayed through aWAN to the external server 152. In some cases, the external server 152may be configured to aggregate the data obtained from the individualbuildings 10 a-n. As will be described in more detail herein, onceaggregated, the data can be analyzed for trends, outliers, etc., to makechanges and/or recommendations for improving the efficiency of one ormore of the buildings 10 a-n.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative system 200 for controllingone of the buildings 10 a-n. The system 200 may include one or morebuilding management systems 202 positioned within or around a building.The building management system(s) 202 may include, but are not limitedto, an HVAC system, a lighting control system, a fire suppressionsystem, a security system, an access control system, internet enabled or“smart” devices, etc. For example, the building management system(s) 202may be similar in form and function to the building management system 12described herein. The illustrative building management system 202includes a controller 204, such as, but not limited to, a host device70, an HVAC control device 22, a security system control device 32, alighting system control device 42, a fire system control device, and/oran access system control device 62 described herein. The controller(s)204 may be similar in form and function to the control devices 22, 32,42, 52, 62, 70 described above and include the same or similarcomponents and capabilities.

The controller 204 is configured to be in communication with one or moresensors 206 that may be used to detect a condition within or near aspace of the building having the building management system(s) 202. Thecontroller 204 may also be configured to use the sensor data to controlone or more of the components of the building management system 202 tocontrol the environmental conditions within the building. In some cases,the controller 204 may be located remote from the building, while inother cases the controller 204 may be a local building controller. Insome embodiments, the controller 204 may be in communication with thesensors 206 via a cloud network 208, although this is not required. Inother embodiments, the controller 204 may be in communication with thesensors 206 via a local network (not explicitly shown) or in directcommunication (e.g., via a wired connection), as desired. The sensors206 may be any type of sensor, device (including IoT devices), ordetectable event suitable for operation in or use within a buildingmanagement system. The sensors 206 may include, but are not limited to,temperatures sensors, humidity sensors, carbon dioxide sensors,occupancy sensors, proximity sensors, motion sensors, limit switches,noise sensors or microphones, video cameras, still image cameras, a hornor alarm, fire, smoke, water, carbon monoxide, and/or natural gasdetectors, a damper actuator controller (e.g. that closes a damperduring a fire event), connection or disconnection of a device to anetwork, activation and/or deactivation of IoT devices, passcode entry,a light controller, smart light bulbs, home appliances such as, but notlimited to, robotic vacuums, coffee pots, etc., water heaters, voiceactivated smart speakers (e.g., AMAZON ECHO™ or GOOGLE HOME™), WiFienabled power outlets, garage door openers, door locks, televisions,speakers, doorbells, water valves, video cameras, wearable devices,radiofrequency receivers, thermal imagers, radar devices, lidar devices,ultrasound devices, etc.

The controller 204 may include a data collection module 210 which mayreceive sensor data (e.g., the sensed condition) from the sensors 206,and in some cases, operational parameters and/or operational statusparameters of the BMS 202. In some embodiments, the data collectionmodule 210 may be a separate portion of the controller 204, althoughthis is not required. The building management system(s) 202 may maintaina plurality of databases including a sensor database that includes dataobtained from the sensors 206 and information derived from the sensors206. Other databases may be provided which include a list of sensor data(e.g., sensed conditions) that occurred in a specific sequence and in aspecific time range, data obtained from the one or more sensors 206aggregated by a predetermined time range, data that has been recordedfor a specific action and initiated by the user, operational parametersand/or operational status parameters of the BMS 202, and/or otherinformation as desired. A memory accessible by the processor of thecontroller 204 may be configured to store the sensor database 212 and/orany other databases such that historical and current data is readilyaccessible. The controller 204 may also be configured to transmit anotification to a remote user device 214 when an action occurs or todisplay a notification on a display of the controller 204.

The remote device 214 may be any internet connected device including asmart phone, tablet, e-reader, laptop computer, personal computer, etc.The notification may be received by an alert module 216 within theremote device 214. The alert module 216 may receive a recommended actionfrom the controller 204 and display the action on a display or guideduser interface (GUI) 218 of the user device 214. The alert module 216may be a part of an application program code (app) running on the remotedevice 214, although this is not required. It is contemplated that theuser may customize who or what device(s) receives notifications and whennotifications are sent or received via the user app 232 or controller204. For example, the building management system 202 may be incommunication with more than one user and/or more than one user device.Once the notification has been received at the alert module 216, thenotification may be displayed on a user interface 228 of the device 214.In some cases, an audio alert (e.g., a beep or chime) or a haptic alert(e.g., a vibration) may accompany the notification to alert the user ofthe notification.

The system 200 may further include one or more external servers 220. Thebuilding management system 202, the remote user device 214, sensors 206,and external server 220 may communicate with one another via a network230. The network 230 may be, for example, a wide area network or globalnetwork (WAN), such as the Internet. The external server(s) 220 may be asuite of hardware and software which may sometimes be referred to as“the cloud.” In some cases, the communication may pass through anintermediary server 208 or cloud network, but this is not required. Insome cases, the cloud 208 may provide the ability for communicationamongst the building management system(s) 202, sensors 206, the externalserver(s) 220, and/or one or more remote devices 214. While the externalserver(s) 220 is illustrated as connected to a single building having abuilding management system(s) 202, the external server(s) 220 may beconnected to a plurality of building management systems as describedwith respect to FIG. 3.

The external server(s) 220 may collect and store data from the varioussensors 206 from the one or more connected building management systems202. The data from the sensors 206 may be collected by a data collectionmodule or controller 222 and stored in a sensor and/or other database224 at the external server(s) 220. The sensor data may be time stampedand/or date stamped to provide additional contextual information (e.g.,time of day, building usage at said time of day, outdoor conditions,etc.). In some cases, the external server(s) 220 may collect and storeone or more operating parameters of the building management systemcomponents. For example, the external server(s) 220 may collecttemperature set points, automated lighting schedules, etc. This data maybe stored with the sensor data in the sensor database 224 or in anotherdatabase, as desired. The operating parameters data may be time stampedand/or date stamped to provide additional contextual information (e.g.,time of day, building usage at said time of day, outdoor conditions,etc.). As will be described in more detail herein, the operatingparameters of the building management system may be used to compare toother building management systems to determine if changes in theoperating parameters may increase the operational efficiency of thebuilding. It is further contemplated that additional contextual datarelated to the building(s) may be stored in the external server 220,sometimes in the sensor database 224, including, but not limited to,occupancy, building size, overall building utilization (store,warehouse, etc.), time stamped weather data (temperature, humidity, winddirection and speed, solar index, sunrise, sunset, etc.) at theparticular geographical location of the building, etc.

The external server 220 may further include a data normalization module226. The data normalization module 226 may be configured to normalizethe sensor data and/or the operating parameters. Some illustrative datathat may be normalized includes, but is not limited to, equipment runtime, equipment energy usage, refrigerant pressure, pressure drop acrossa filter, sensor readings, etc. In some cases, the data may benormalized for outdoor conditions (e.g., weather, sunrise, sunset, etc.)and/or other factors such as, but not limited to building size, buildingequipment (BTU, TONS, Efficiency Rating, etc.), building size or otherbuilding characteristics, number of times a cooler door is opened and/orclosed, number of times people enter and/or exit the building, and/orother characteristics of the building and/or building management systemcomponents (e.g., energy efficiency, etc.). The normalized data may bestored in the sensor database 224, or other database, as desired. Insome cases, the data may be normalized by grouping the data according tothe location and/or geographical region of the building managementsystem 202 so as to normalize out significant variations in weather orother outdoor conditions, building construction codes, etc., that maydiffer across geographic regions.

In some cases, normalization of the data may include grouping data setsby a particular attribute, such as, but not limited to climate. In oneexample, to normalize data for outdoor conditions, the geographiclocation of each building 10 a-n within the system 200 may be overlaidon a climate map representing the prevailing weather patterns of a givenarea. A climate map may include a conventional map overlaid with colorsrepresenting climate zones. Climate maps may take into considerationprecipitation, temperature, seasonal variations, and/or geographicalfeatures and are readily available for mores regions of the world.Buildings 10 a-n within a climate zone can be compared with otherbuildings within the same climate zone to help normalize out largevariations in climate. In some cases, an application programminginterface (API) may provide actual contemporary environmental conditions(e.g. temperature, humidity, solar index, wind speed and wind direction,participation, altitude, etc.) from a weather service. The buildings maythen be grouped based on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as, butnot limited to temperature, humidity, solar index, wind speed and winddirection, participation, altitude, etc.

In some cases, buildings 10 a-n may be grouped by an average temperatureor average temperature and average humidity over a period of time. Inone example, buildings 10 a-n may be grouped if they are in a locationhaving an average temperature within a certain percentage (e.g., 75° F.+/−5%) over a period of time (e.g. a period of minutes, hours, days,weeks, months, etc.). The groupings may change based on the real timedata. As indoor climate control may vary based on other outdoorconditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, etc.), additional or othervariables may be included in the grouping criteria. It is contemplatedthat increasing the grouping criteria may increase the number of groupsof buildings but may also increase accuracy of the normalization.

In another example, normalization of the data may include generatingscaled and/or shifted versions to allow for comparisons of correspondingnormalized data across different data sets. For example, the data may bescaled and/or shifted to allow for data comparison of buildings indifferent climates in a way that minimizes or eliminates the influencesof external factors such as climate conditions. It is contemplated thatthe data may be scaled and/or shifted to account for other grossinfluencers, as desired. For example, it may be expected that an airconditioning system may have higher run times per period of time in ahot climate (e.g. Phoenix, Ariz.) relative to a cooler or moderateclimate (Minneapolis, Minn.). The run times of systems in such differentclimates can be normalized or adjusted based on their correspondingoutdoor conditions (e.g. temperature, humidity, solar index, wind speedand wind direction, participation, altitude, etc.) and then compared todetermine if one or more of the building management systems isexperiencing an anomaly such as reduced performance.

The external server 220 may further include a data analysis module 228.The data analysis module 228 may be configured to analyze the normalizedsensor data. For example, the analysis module 228 may be configured todetermine the mean, median and/or any outliers for a particular type ofdata. Some illustrative data types may include, but are not limited to,energy usage of individual systems and/or components within the systems(HVAC system, lights, refrigeration, etc.), water usage, etc. In someembodiments, the data analysis module 228 may be configured to predictresource consumption (e.g., energy, water, etc.) for a particularbuilding based on at least one type of non-sensor data including, butlimited to geographic location and/or average outdoor temperature, etc.

The data analysis module 228 may be configured to compare the normalizeddata from a first building to the normalized data from one or more otherbuildings to identify one or more anomalies associated the firstbuilding. The buildings used for comparison may be of a same use typeand/or within the same category of building. The one or more anomaliesmay correspond to resource use that is not associated with outsideenvironmental differences in building locations. For example, an HVACsystem that is using more energy than expected compared to the predictedresource consumption and/or the normalized data from other buildingmanagement systems may be considered an anomaly. Further analysis of theenergy usage of the anomalous HVAC system either at the external server220 and/or at the building or system controller 204 may help identify aroot-cause and subsequently a recommended action, as will be describedin more detail herein. Additionally or alternatively, the operatingparameters of the building management system 202 of the first buildingmay be compared to the operating parameters from one or more otherbuildings to identify one or more anomalies associated the building. Forexample, the comparison of operating parameters may reveal that thefirst building is leaving more lights illuminated when the building isunoccupied compared to the one or more other buildings. A recommendationmay be to change the lighting schedule of the offending building.

In some cases, the data analysis module 228 may be further configured todetermine if the one or more anomalies are associated with the activityof one or more occupants of the building. It is contemplated that thedata analysis module 228 may be configured to identify an occupantactivity event when one or more anomalies are associated with anactivity of one or more occupants of the building. The occupant activityevent may be associated with one or more predetermined conditions in thebuilding. In one example, an occupant activity event may be an exteriordoor remaining open for a period of time. The associated one or morepredetermined conditions may be a temporary increase in energyconsumption of the HVAC system which can be correlated to the length oftime that the door remained open. For example, an increased cooling costfor a particular day (and a particular building) may be associated withan exterior door remaining open for a long period of time. In somecases, the activity of the occupants can be inferred by or detected byone or more of sensors. For example, a limit switch on a door may remainopen for a period of time indicating that the door has remained open. Inanother example, a surveillance camera may monitor whether the door isopen or closed, along with other use activities. The impact of theoccupant's activity on the resource usage may be further verified by anincrease in the resource usage. For example, having a door temporarilypropped open may incur a temporary increase in energy consumptionwhereas a mechanical problem with a component of the HVAC system mayincur an ongoing increase in energy consumption.

The external server 220 may further include a recommendations module232. The recommendations module 232 may be configured to providerecommended actions based on a rules framework. In some cases, therecommendations module 232 may transmit a recommended action to thecontroller 204 and/or directly to the user device 214. The recommendedaction may include maintenance suggestions, equipment replacement,structural changes, operating parameter modifications, alerts toindicate energy waste (e.g., an audible notification when n exteriordoor or a cooler door has remained open for greater than a predeterminedlength of time), changes to occupant behavior, etc.

It is contemplated that in some instances, the recommendations module232 may remotely effect the recommended action. For example, therecommendations module 232 may be configured to change an operatingparameter (e.g., temperature set point, heating/cooling schedule,lighting schedule, etc.) of the building management system 202 at thebuilding controller 204. In some cases, when the data analysis module228 has determined the one or more anomalies are due to an activity ofthe occupant and/or an occupant activity event, the recommendationsmodule 232 may automatically ignore the one or more anomalies. It isfurther contemplated that the recommended action provided by therecommendations module 232 may take into consideration occupant comfort(temperature, humidity, lighting, total energy consumption, occupancy ofthe building, food safety, etc.). In other words, the recommendationsmodule 232 may not recommend actions that would be detrimental to thebuilding occupants and/or enterprise.

Generally, the remote server 220 may use global analytics of buildingsacross a building portfolio to identify or predict a problem or issue ata specific building. The remote server 220 may compare normalized datacollected from sensors 206 of a building to other normalized datacollected from sensors in one or more other buildings (of similarproperty types) to determine if there are changes or modifications thatcan/should be made to the control logic and/or components of thebuilding management system 202 to improve the operational efficiency ofthe building. In some cases, the data normalization and/or analysis maybe performed in a cloud server remote from the building. In other cases,at least some of the data normalization and/or data analysis may beperformed locally at the building controller 204. Recommended actionsmay be provided to a user. In some cases, the actions may be userdefined or suggested by the external server 220 and/or the controller204. The system 200 may continuously analyze the sensor data, or analyzethe data at predetermined intervals (e.g., days, months, years, etc.).In some cases, the external server 220 may be configured to identifytrends in resource usage over a time, and predict when a recommendedchange may be needed or desired.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative flow chart of a method 300 of controlling abuilding. The illustrative method 300 begins with the controller 204 ofa building management system 202 in a building receiving data from theplurality of sensors 206, as shown at block 302. The controller 204 mayuse the received sensor data to control one or more components of thebuilding management system 202 to control one or more environmentalconditions within the building, as shown at block 304. The environmentalconditions may include, but are not limited, temperature, humidity,lighting, etc. An external server or cloud server 220 may establish aconnection to the building management system 202, as shown at block 306.It is contemplated that the external server 220 may be connected to thebuilding management system 202 while the controller 204 is receivingsensor data (block 302) and controlling the BMS 202 (block 304). Theexternal server 220 may request data from the sensors 206 and/oroperating parameters of the BMS. Alternatively, the controller 204 maybe configured to automatically send the data from the sensors 206 and/oroperating parameters of the BMS 202.

The data collection module 222 of the external server 220 may receivethe raw sensor data, operating parameters and/or contextual informationfor the building, as shown at block 308. It is contemplated that thedata collection module 222 may be collecting data from one or moreadditional buildings sometimes substantially simultaneously therewith.The data collection module 222 may store the raw sensor data, operatingparameters and/or contextual information for the building in a sensorand/or other database 224, as shown at block 310. In some cases, any orall of the raw sensor data, operating parameters and/or contextualinformation for the building may be timestamped and/or date stamped.

The data normalization module 226 may then normalize the raw sensor dataand/or operating parameters for the building, as shown at block 312. Thenormalized sensor data and/or operating parameters may be stored in adatabase in the external server 220, as shown at block 314. In someembodiments, the normalized sensor data and/or operating parameters maybe stored in the sensor database 224, although this is not required. Thenormalized sensor data and/or operating parameters may be stored withnormalized data form one or more additional buildings.

The data analysis module 228 may then compare the normalized sensor dataand/or operating parameters for the building to the normalized sensordata and/or operating parameters for one or more additional buildings,as shown at block 316. In some cases, the normalized sensor data and/oroperating parameters for the building may additionally or alternativelybe compared to a predicted resource usage, as described above. The dataanalysis module 228 may then identify one or more anomalies associatedwith the building based on the comparison with data from other buildingsand/or predicted usage, as shown at block 318. In some cases, the dataanalysis module 228 may determine if any of the one or more anomaliesare due to an activity of the occupants of the building, as show atblock 320. If the one or more anomalies are due to an activity of theoccupants of the building, the data analysis module 228 mayautomatically ignore the anomaly associated with activity of theoccupant.

The data analysis module 228 may send the one or more anomalies to arecommendations module 232. The recommendations module 232 may provide arecommended action to improve at least one of the one or more identifiedanomalies of the building. In some embodiments, the recommended actionmay be a notification sent to a user identifying maintenance activities,control changes, equipment replacements, etc. that may improve at leastone of the one or more identified anomalies of the building.Alternatively, or additionally, the recommended action may be amodification to a control parameter of the BMS 202 which isautomatically delivered to the controller 204 by the external server220.

While the data normalization, data analysis and recommendations aredescribed as being performed at the remote server 220, it should beunderstood that some or all of these tasks may be performed at thecontroller 204 of the BMS 202. Further, the controller 204 of the BMS202 may be a plurality of controllers or a host device, as describedabove. In some cases, the controller 204 of the BMS 202 may be local tothe building or remote from the building.

The various modules described herein disclosed herein may be implementedor performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signalprocessor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), afield programmable gate array signal (FPGA) or other programmable logicdevice, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components,or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions describedherein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present disclosure maybe manifested in a variety of forms other than the specific embodimentsdescribed and contemplated herein. Accordingly, departure in form anddetail may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of thepresent disclosure as described in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for controlling a building, the methodcomprising: receiving sensor data from one or more sensors of thebuilding; using the received sensor data to control one or more buildingmanagement components of the building to control one or moreenvironmental conditions within the building; normalizing the sensordata and storing the normalized sensor data; comparing the normalizedsensor data with normalized sensor data from one or more other buildingsto identify one or more anomalies associated the building; and providinga recommended action to improve at least one of the one or moreidentified anomalies of the building.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe sensor data is normalized to take into account one or more outdoorconditions.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data isnormalized to take into account one or more characteristics of thebuilding.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data isnormalized to take into account one or more characteristics of the oneor more building management components.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving and storing one or more operatingparameters of one or more building management components of thebuilding; and comparing the normalized sensor data along with one ormore of the received operating parameters with normalized sensor dataand one or more operating parameters from the one or more otherbuildings to identify one or more anomalies associated the building. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more operating parameters ofone or more building management components of the building arenormalized.
 7. The method of claim 5, further comprising: timestampingthe sensor data received from one or more sensors of the building; andtimestamping the received one or more operating parameters.
 8. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising: determining when the one or moreanomalies are caused by an activity of one or more occupants of thebuilding.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: ignoring any ofthe one or more anomalies that are determined to be caused by theactivity of one or more occupants of the building.
 10. The method ofclaim 8, identifying an occupant activity event when an anomaly isdetermined to be caused by the activity of one or more occupants of thebuilding, wherein the occupant activity event identifies one or moreconditions in the building.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising automatically ignoring an identified anomaly associated thebuilding when the one or more conditions in the building match one ormore conditions associated with an identified occupant activity event.12. The method of claim 1, wherein a building controller of the buildinguses the received sensor data to control the one or more buildingmanagement components of the building to control the one or moreenvironmental conditions within the building.
 13. The method of claim11, wherein a local building controller of the building uses thereceived sensor data to control the one or more building managementcomponents of the building to control the one or more environmentalconditions within the building.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein acloud server remote from the building compares the normalized sensordata with normalized sensor data from one more other buildings toidentify the one or more anomalies associated the building, and whereinthe cloud server notifies the local building controller of the one ormore identified anomalies associated the building.
 15. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more anomalies comprises a performanceanomaly of one or more building management components of the building.16. A method for controlling a building, the method comprising:receiving sensor data from one or more sensors of the building; usingthe received sensor data to control one or more building managementcomponents of the building to control one or more environmentalconditions within the building; receiving one or more operatingparameters of one or more building management components of thebuilding; comparing the sensor data and the one or more operatingparameters against a database of sensor data and one or more ofoperating parameters collected from one more other buildings to identifyone or more anomalies associated with the building; determining when theone or more anomalies are caused by an activity of one or more occupantsof the building; and providing a recommended action to improve at leastone of the one or more identified anomalies of the building.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising: identifying an occupant activityevent when an anomaly is determined to be caused by the activity of oneor more occupants of the building, wherein the occupant activity eventidentifies one or more conditions in the building; and automaticallyignoring an anomaly associated with the building when the one or moreconditions in the building match one or more conditions associated withan identified occupant activity event.
 18. The method of claim 17,wherein the activity of one or more occupants of the building comprisesopening a door of the building.
 19. A system for controlling a building,the system comprising: a local building controller configured to:receive sensor data from one or more sensors of the building; use thereceived sensor data to control one or more building managementcomponents of the building to control one or more environmentalconditions within the building; a cloud server configured to: receivethe sensor data from the local building controller; normalize the sensordata; compare the normalized sensor data with normalized sensor datafrom one more other buildings to identify one or more anomaliesassociated the building; and provide a recommended action to improve atleast one of the one or more identified anomalies of the building. 20.The system of claim 19, wherein the cloud server is configured toreceive one or more operating parameters of one or more buildingmanagement components of the building from the local buildingcontroller, and compare the normalized sensor data along with one ormore of the received operating parameters with normalized sensor dataand one or more operating parameters from one or more other buildings toidentify the one or more anomalies associated the building.